My thoughts

New year

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:55:41 GMT

Since I ma going to a party and probably won't be able to post anymore:

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody.

Merry Chirstmass!

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:48:03 GMT

(or merry whatever you are celebrating)

Snow...

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:26:56 GMT

The snow is just insane, especially since I had to do some shopping today (took about twice the time to get from where I live the city centre on bike)

Just a bit down

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:46:03 GMT

Feeling a bit down/depressed, because everytime my life seems to go somewhere something has to shoot it down. Or so it seems. Of course part of this is because 2009 has been quite a bad year for me.

Maybe I should just call some friends...

Back online

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:47:53 GMT

Well got my laptop back and took some time getting everything back together (still haven't installed everything but it works). Anyway will be hearing from me more soon(ish).

SNAFU (Situation Normal All F***ed up)

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:39:21 GMT

Although a bit stressed which doesn't help with sleeping (the resulting feeling can be summed up as 'not really wanting to do anything'), everything is actually going not to badly (as in it is still possible that everything will turn out fine)...

... Well except one thing and that is that my laptop (probably) as a hardware problem. A single horizontal line of pixel doesn't function any more (well except if I physically move the screen a bit), and on the internet the only description of this problem I can find means that the ribon cable to the screen is broken (or the contacts, but both are problematic). So now I have to return my laptop probably loosing access to it for up to two weeks or so.

Meme time!

Mon, 18 May 2009 09:55:04 GMT

Didn't have anything else to do so...

1) Who are you?
2) Are we friends?
3) When and how did we meet?
4) Would you kiss me?
5) Give me a nickname and explain why.
6) Describe me in one word.
7) What was your first impression of me?
8) Do you still think the same?
9) What reminds you of me?
10) If you could give me anything, what would it be?
11) How well do you know me?
12) Are you gonna put this in your journal and see what I say about you?
13) Would you meet up with me?

Second founder of a hobby died

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:06:45 GMT

Today I was cheking Giant in the Playground to check if there where any updates on "Order of the Stick" and/or "Erfworld". When I saw the news item about the fact that Dave Arneson died on April the 7th.

Dave Arneson was one of the co-creators of "Dungeons and Dragons" (together with Gary Gygax who passed away last year). Sadly he is less well known even though without him the hobby of tabletop roleplaying games would never have existed (and that probably means that computer games would be different too).

Anyway I hope gamers around the world will honour this creator.

(Some more info can be found here)

Seems like everything finally caught up to me

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:15:57 GMT

Because I feel rather sick at the moment, it seems that all the stress of the last couple of weeks caught up to me (and going out with only my summer coat and a t-shirt wasn't a very bright idea either in hindsight).

Eurofurence, to go or not to go?

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:41:17 GMT

That is the question, sadly in my case it will probably a no go. This is because of the following reasons:

The only affordable way to go is with a shared room which (probably) means sleeping in a room with completely unknown people (not the problem) who might or might not respect my need for sleep (the problem)

I am not sure if I will have time by then, because I am not sure how good or bad university will be going, meaning that around the time of the con I might be looking for a job and/or taking exams

Since I don't know anyone I will probably be rather lonely, and although I don't mind being alone, I do mind being lonely (especially in a large group of people)

Just general bad people skills and other psychological issues (Might write another post about that in the future)

Still is expensive (at least 200 euro not including train tickets and such)

All the above make it quite hard for justify spending money on it and thus going.

Too tired to do anything

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:39:23 GMT

Well I can definitely say that LANs are fun, but gaming for (slightly more) than 48 hours straight (well, almost did have some pauses for eating, drinking and some resting) is not something I am going to repeat soon. Anyway I hope the nest event I have is not this tiring (probably it is because it is a LARP, but anyway).

A lot people seem to it so ...

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:53:46 GMT

I died on Moonbase Dutch Wolf

I was killed in a silver-walled recreation room by Kwisa the cleaning droid, whilst carrying...

a PROGRAMMING-30 plasma rifle, a READIN forcefield generator, a Daisukemilesian raygun, a KEVINS forcefield generator, Dark Epsilon's commbadge, a goodfoodlithium crystal and 111 galacticredits.

Score: 153

Explore Moonbase Dutch Wolf and try to beat this score,
or enter your username to generate and explore your own space adventure...

Skated this weekend

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:12:44 GMT

Although the temperature is rising I did manage to skate on a small (artificial) lake 'de Poel' (near Amstelveen) this weekend. Sadly it probably won't be possible to do this for the next couple of years.

Happy New Year!

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:25:46 GMT

For the people who hadn't such a great year, I hope for that this one will be your great year!
For the people who had a great year, I hope that this one will be better!
And for the rest may 2009 be your best year yet!

And so this is Christmas...

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:07:27 GMT

Or winter solstice festival, anyway it means that another year is almost over. In a way it is a time both special and normal, special because of the realisation that time has past and that it can never be turned around normal in that life goes on. I look back at the past and wonder at the future and the present is in balance between the two. And I wonder if the ups and downs of 2008 will have any resemblance or reflection in the ups and downs of 2009. And I do hope that for everyone of my family, my friends, the family of my friends, the friends of my friends, and so on, 2009 will be a great year. So with hope and joy in my hearth I all wish you and happy Christmas (or whatever you may call it) and a happy and joyful newyear.

Wooot!

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:50:51 GMT

Got some results back from my first exam I did a couple of weeks ago at the TU/e (one of the two I did there), and amazingly it isn't only a pass it is a freaking 7 (yes a seven), the subject was called 'vector calculus 2' (could skip 1 since I cam from the fontys) and is a difficult subject.

Although this is great news I didn't do that well on the other subject ('differential equations') partly because I learned less for it, but mostly because it is a rather disjunct set of problems (for each type of differential equation there is a different way to solve). So in the end I only got 4 for that.

Rainbows...

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:29:37 GMT

Your rainbow is shaded gray.

What is says about you: You are an elegant person. You appreciate tradition and wisdom that comes with age. You depend on modern technology and may feel uncomfortable without it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Not entirely right since although in my day to day live I do heavily depend on technology (like everyone else these days) I am confident that I can enjoy and take care of myself with a lot less of it around me (otherwise said I don't feel uncomfortable without the tech (to be honest tough in my younger years I sometimes did)).

Back from LARP

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:05:41 GMT

I had a great time during the LARP, although leaving was due to the weather a bit difficult (luckily my parents weren't to far away). I haven't written earlier because I was still tired.

Going away for the weekend

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:12:34 GMT

Will be to a LARP this weekend (Lands in Exile for those who want to know) first time I go as player instead of as monster/npc. The only problem I have at the moment is that I seem to have caught a nasty cold, but nothing that will stop me.

I heard somebody got a year older...

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:30:53 GMT

Or otherwise said:

Happy Birthday o_kill

"King maker" a horrible game

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:37:45 GMT

This is a rant about a board game I played yesterday called "King Maker". An old game (I think it is at least 20 years old or so) I played yesterday with a couple of people. And I can positively say that I would have enjoyed a game of monopoly more. Anyway on to the game.

Setting:
England 15something King Henry is a weak king and a couple of others would like somebody else for king, the playing pieces are the nobles who can try to make somebody else king.

Mechanics:
A couple decks of cards one determining what and how strong your playing pieces are the other an event deck which also functions as a randomiser for the combat results. Now the bad stuff:
1. There is no timer
Or theoretically the game can run forever
2. There is only one way to win (and there are no victory points)
Since a player wins the game when the players has crowned a king with no further contenders for the crown the player wins, there is actually only one wining strategy it is not possible to win in any other way (IMO)
3. It (easy) to create a stale mate
Combined with 1 this means the game will go on forever
4. Events move the pieces of the player
This wouldn't be so bad, but combined with some other factors (and the fact that some places are save for these kinds of events) it means a players forces can be ripped apart by forces not under control by the player(s) (IMHO not very fun)
5. The combat randomiser say who dies in a combat no matter if the player is victories or not (the cards have names of the nobles in the combat section of the card if a noble participates in the combat and that name is on the card that noble dies period)
This combined with the fact that a single noble can be a large part of a players force (even your only), makes the only winning options (if you decide to play) erode the player's own position.
6. The only resources you have are the nobles
Losing nobles means losing resources and those resources are needed to win the game.

Example:
Late in the game I had a strong position near London and a stalemate (some players had placed a couple of nobles out of reach in positions where the change mechanics wouldn't summon them away). I could stay there for a couple of turns with a high change that my forces would eventually be scattered and killed, or I could make sure I had a road available meaning combats with another change for my forces to be killed, but eventually less change of being scattered. The second option was only marginally better since it would mean moving away from my power base.

Verdict:
"Where the only winning move is NOT TO PLAY." - Wargames
The game is unbelievable unbalanced, random and it is only possible to move forward (and thus eventually possible to win the game) by weakening your own power base. It is only lucky that these kind of games aren't made any more (or so I hope) and that it is probably very hard to acquire. In my (not so humble) opinion it isn't worth the box it comes in.

Postscript:
If people find this interesting I can do more although I don't have many boardgames myself but I know a few people who do and play regularly with. I have some experience with "Twilight Imperium", "World of Warcraft the board game", "Starcraft the board game", "Descent", "Colonists of Catan" and more.

Look at what arived with the mail today

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:03:45 GMT

Today arrived some LARP stuff I ordered, namely
* A Sword (105 cm long)
* A linen shirt
* A holder for the sword (attaches to a belt)
* A waterskin

The following pictures are of the sword, a home sewed tunic, and linen shirt.

And another quiz...

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:21:19 GMT

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges.

You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions.

Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist.

Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!).

Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others.

And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you.

You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically.

Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas.

Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Was a bit bored so...

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:26:55 GMT

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (4th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-12

Dexterity-10

Constitution-14

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-10

Charisma-10

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXX (9)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXX (7)
Neutral - XXXXXXX (7)
Chaos --- XXXXXXX (7)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXX (9)
Evil ---- XX (2)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXXXX (6)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Halfling - XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXX (9)
Half-Orc - XX (2)

Class:
Barbarian - (-4)
Bard ------ XX (2)
Cleric ---- (-8)
Druid ----- XXXXXX (6)
Fighter --- (0)
Monk ------ (-23)
Paladin --- (-23)
Ranger ---- XX (2)
Rogue ----- (-4)
Sorcerer -- XX (2)
Wizard ---- XXXXXXXX (8)

Actually these results aren't that far of from a translation into D&D stat from what I am and do in real life (especially seen the extended results).

Meme?

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:54:44 GMT

Saw this floating around my friendspace and thought that it would be a good time to get my webcam to work under linux (works immiatly in some applications while in others it doens't work at all don't really know way) anyway:

1) Take a picture of yourself right now.
2) Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.
3) Post that picture with NO editing.
4) Post these instructions with your picture.

Van Openbare Rotzooi